For the past 10 years, the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County has been educating, enlightening, and preserving local Jewish history through workshops, exhibits, lectures, and performances.
The Museum, nestled in a community rich in Jewish history since the mid-1700s, will commemorate this 10th anniversary with a Gala Brunch at 11 AM on Sunday, April, at the Battleground Country Club in Manalapan.
“This celebration is a glorious opportunity for the community to pay tribute to our honorees,” said Phyllis Solomon who is co-chairing the event with fellow board member and founding member, Helene Cohen. “Their perseverance and steadfastness has enabled the Museum to reach this milestone.”
Tickets to the event, “Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, and Building the Future,” are $72, which includes a delicious dairy meal, a silent auction featuring more than 20 baskets, musical performance by Cantor Gabrielle Clissold, Cantor at Monmouth Reform Temple, and entertainment by Vic Schioppo. Also, for as little as $18, ad space is available in a journal that will be distributed at the Gala as well as at other Museum events throughout the year. Name recognition of these donors will also be published in the Museum’s newsletter, Heritage Highlights. The deadline for submissions is March 11th.
With memories of some of the earliest Jewish settlers like Jonas Solomon and his son, Levi, their family barn now houses the Museum. The Museum will pay tribute to seventeen people who have been instrumental in the early growth of the Museum. They are Gloria Berman, Michael Berman, Helene Cohen, Gary Cohen, Mel Druin, Linda Friedman, Bernard “Nardi” Hochberg, Jean Klerman, Charlotte Kruman, Gloria Landy, Sid Marshall, Barbara Michaels, Rabbi Sally Priesand, Elaine Ruda, Caryl Sills, Charles Sills, and Rabbi Brooks Susman.
Leading up to the Gala, the Museum will offer a series of events including the new “Voices and Visions” exhibit of eighteen posters donated by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, the Klezmer Concert by the group Tsu Fil Duvids on March 20th, and the “Art After Dark” ceramic painting party with wine and cheese on March 30th.
Solomon, who is also president of the Chancy Memorial Foundation in Marlboro, added, “It is my hope that the JHMOMC will continue to embrace all who come through our doors and provide an environment of learning, living and laughing. It is also of great importance to me to have the youth of our community visit our museum, walk through the Jewish history and journeys of those who came before, and realize the ownership that is possible for them.”